Operation Paukenschlag and the shortage of escorts

Operation Paukenschlag, from January to August 1942, brought enormous Allied merchant losses at a low U-boat cost. At least 609 ships, roughly 3.1 million tons, were sunk for the loss of only 22 submarines. This was the Second Happy Time, and the tally amounted to about a quarter of Allied merchant ships sunk by submarines during the war. Inadequate American coastal protection contributed to the crisis, as did competing demands for escorts elsewhere, including Operation Torch. The operational lesson is immediate force availability: projected construction cannot protect a convoy today, and a ship committed to one theatre cannot cover another.